Crack

(Noun) In discussing pottery and porcelain condition a crack is defined as "a narrow break going through glaze and porcelain body, visibly from both sides".

A distinction must be made if the damage is stable or not.

A crack that occurred during the firing process (firing crack) might be perfectly stable and should be regarded as an esthetic flaw rather than a damage.

A later crack caused by an impact implies that less care is taken of the object in the first place as well as that the object is now in an unstable condition that might be worsened by even a modest amount of further pressure. Even lifting an object with an unstable crack might cause further damage.

In some older pottery cracks can occur on one side only of the porcelain / stoneware wall. This could either be a large meshed crackle or a damage and should be mentioned anyway from the point of what might have caused the crack i.e. stress, age, firing, burial, internal tension etc. See also crackle and break